


Little Girls, Little Girls

by MommyMaleficent



Category: Once Upon a Time (TV)
Genre: Comfort, Crying, Emotional Hurt/Comfort, Fluff, Fluff and Hurt/Comfort, Friendship, Gen, Hurt/Comfort, Infantilism, Insecurity, Mommy Snow, Non-Sexual Age Play, Queerplatonic Relationships, caregiver Mulan, little Aurora, little Emma, mentions of childhood trauma, mentions of trauma
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-10-04
Updated: 2018-10-04
Packaged: 2019-07-25 05:47:23
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,360
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16191320
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/MommyMaleficent/pseuds/MommyMaleficent
Summary: Aurora and Emma have a lot in common: they have very loving caregivers who they love, they both sleep with comfort objects they can drape over their shoulders, and they both love being little, especially with each other.





	Little Girls, Little Girls

When Emma first found out Aurora was a little, she was both happy and embarrassed. Happy because she finally had someone more or less her own age to play with, and embarrassed because she immediately thought back to all the times she cried over small things and threw tantrums and was just bad and she wondered if Aurora would laugh at her for being such a big baby.

When Aurora found out Emma was a little, she too was very happy, but a little scared too. Happy because she had someone to play with, but scared because Emma has been little a lot longer—what if Aurora’s being little all wrong because she doesn’t wear diapers all that much or use them when she does?

Their first play date was, to put it in one word, careful. Very careful. So careful in fact, their caregivers noticed and asked them about it. Were they having fun? Did they not like playing together? Emma surprised them all by bursting into tears on the spot, and her suddenly crying made Aurora start crying, and when each little girl tearfully explained what the matter was in the arms of their loved ones, and they heard each other’s fears, they couldn’t help but laugh.

“There’s no _wrong_ way to be little!” Emma said, wiping her eyes, “Silly Rory! Some littles likes diapers, some don’t, just like some like teddies and others like blankies. That doesn’t make it wrong, just different. Right, Mommy?” she asked, turning her head and looking up at her mommy.

Snow nodded. “Exactly, baby. Good job putting that into words!”

Aurora giggled. “And crying isn’t bad, Emmy. Big or little, you’ll always be allowed because everyone cries, even Muma sometimes.”

“ _Hey_ ,” Mulan said, playfully tapping Aurora’s arm when Emma gasped, making them all laugh some more.

“I cry a lot too,” Aurora continued, shrugging her shoulders, “ _All the time_. And I get upset over small things and make them into big things, but the ‘portant thing is Muma still loves me at the end of the day.” She turns to look up at Mulan. “Right?”

“Of _course_.” Mulan replied, giving her a kiss on the cheek, “And I always will love you, Princess.”

“And Daddy and I will always love our little princess as well.” Snow joined in, giving Emma kisses too, and making her laugh.

“I suppose that settles things,” Mulan said when they all calmed down. “Will the two of you be all right now that we’ve had this talk?”

Both little girls nodded that they were. And then, slipping from their caregivers’ laps, Emma and Aurora took each other by the hand and ran back to the living room to play together. Really play.

They made up pretend games where they got to go on adventures and defeat wicked bad guys. They watched TV and laughed at the silly funny things and hugged each other at the scary parts. They made faces and teased, and chased each other around the house, and played hide-and-seek with their stuffies until it was time for lunch, and then a nap.

Aurora was quiet all throughout lunch, which brought down Emma’s mood a bit. When Mulan took her upstairs to go and change into her jammies, Emma tugged at Snow’s blouse as she cleared the table.

“Why’s Rory sad, Mommy?” she asked, tilting her head.

Snow caressed her daughter’s cheek. “Rory isn’t sad, baby. She’s...” she looked about for the right word. “Apprehensive.”

Emma huffed. “ _Momm-myyy_! You’re using big words again! What’s app-pee-hen-sive mean?”

Snow laughed. “ _Apprehensive_ is a feeling like being nervous or scared. It’s when you’re worried something bad will happen.”

“Ohhh...” Emma considered this, touching her finger to her chin in thought. She looked up at her mommy again. “But what’s Rory gotta be scared ‘bout?”

“I’ll tell you in just a second,” said Snow as she went back to the sink. “Would you like to help Mommy with the dishes? I wash, you dry?”

Emma shrugged. She didn’t really wanna help, but she did like being called helpful, and that would make Mommy more likely to tell her what’s wrong with Rory. “Okay, Mommy.”

When the chore was done, and the water turned off, they could hear things getting noisy upstairs. Aurora was crying. Emma began to get antsy.

“Mommy, Mommy, listen!” she cried, distressed, “Rory’s crying!”

Ears perking up, Snow listened, and her heart ached when she realized the crying was getting a little louder.

“Poor girl,” she murmured. “This must be harder for her right now...”

“Mommy—tell meee!!” Emma whined, stomping her foot a little, “What’s wrong with Rory?”

They sat down on the couch in the living room, Emma on her mommy’s lap, and Snow kissed her little one’s forehead.

“Emma,” she began, “Sweetheart, you know how scared you get that Mommy and Daddy won’t come back when we walk out the door, even if it’s just for a quick ten minutes?”

Emma nodded. She didn’t like where this was going. She was feeling apprehensive.

“Can you tell Mommy why you get so scared?”

She lowered her gaze to her lap. Her eyes filled with tears.

“Because...” Emma sniffled, “because when I was really little, people who said they were my mommies and daddies always left. Or they made me leave. Lots of them even said they loved me, lots of times, but I still had to leave, sometimes for no reason. And I... I get scared now because what if it happens again? What if even though you love me, it’s not enough? _I’m_ not—”

“You are _more_ than enough, Emma,” Snow said firmly. She hugged her daughter, and kissed her, and rubbed her arms comfortingly. “And Mommy and Daddy will always be here to remind you that you’re enough and that...?”

“You always come back. And no matter what, you love me more than life itself, and would never ‘bandon me, never ever. And I am your little princess, and good little princesses get all the cuddles and kisses and snuggles whenever she wants.”

David definitely had something to do with that last one, Snow was sure of it, but she agreed nonetheless.

“Yes,” she said, smiling, “Yes to all of that. My point is, you get scared because of all the hurt you had to go through with your foster mommies and daddies, right?” Emma nodded. “Well, it’s the same with Rory. But instead of getting hurt over and over, she got hurt very deeply all at once, and now she’s scared of the bad dreams that one big hurt gave her. Of the nightmares she gets when she goes to sleep.”

Emma blinked. “Like your nightmares, Mommy? The red room? And the scary fires?”

Snow nodded. “Exactly like that, baby. Rory has the same bad dreams, exactly the same ones. It’s scary enough as a grown-up. Being a little girl must make it so much more scary for her.”

Now that she knew what Aurora was crying about, Emma couldn’t help but feel sorry for her. And she got scared too. Poor Rory! She hugged her mommy tight, and her mommy hugged her tight back.

“I wanna help!” Emma said when she pulled away, “I’ll protect Rory from the big bad nightmares! What did Daddy do to help you, Mommy?”

They made a plan. Upstairs, Aurora was enacting a plan of her own.

Each time it seemed like she was calming down, she would just not, and keep going. She clung to Mulan desperately, her sobs turning into moans, her tears long run dry. If she could just keep this up, even if she couldn’t actually tear up, maybe she won’t have to nap at all. No sleep, no scary dreams, no fear.

Mulan wouldn’t say if she minded. She probably even knew what Aurora was doing, but for some reason didn’t say anything even though she certainly could. She had so much patience, and kept rubbing Aurora’s back and running her fingers through her hair, and speaking softly when Aurora’s sobs lulled, “I’m here, it’s okay, you’re okay, I promise.”

She seemed to be waiting for something, whether it was for Aurora to stop crying or for something else. But she never loosened her gentle hold at all even once, and she never made mention of the fact that they were in another person’s house and that Emma could be thinking bad of them for all the noise when it’s supposed to be a quiet time.

Then Emma and Snow came into the guest bedroom Mulan took them into, and Emma said loudly so they all could hear her:

“I’m gonna protect Rory while we nap, and we’re gonna have a good nap today!”

As much as she didn’t want to say so, Aurora was tired. Tried of crying, of fighting, of being awake. So when Auntie Snow came and gently made her let go of her caregiver, Aurora didn’t put up much resistance.

Then Emma gently put a pacifier in her mouth.

“Let’s go wash your face, Rory,” she said, smiling and wiping at the tear tracks. “Then Mommy will read us a story so we can fall ‘sleep.”

So that’s what they did. Emma sat Aurora down on the lid of the toilet and washed her face with a cold cloth all by herself while their caregivers watched.

“Thank you,” said Mulan, turning to Snow, “For the advice, Snow. We probably should have come to you sooner, but I didn’t know how to tell you about...” Her eyes flickered to the girls as Emma coaxed Aurora to give up the paci for a second so she could get _all_ of her face.

Snow chuckled. “I get it. As much as their fears take over them in the moment, you’re always going to be afraid for them just a little bit more because making sure they feel safe is your top priority.”

Mulan nodded. “Absolutely. If Aurora and I knew about you and Emma sooner, we...” She blinked. “How _did_ come up, actually, if you don’t mind my asking?”

“Done!” Emma said, helping Aurora stand up. Then, taking her by the hand again, she added, “Bed or living room?”

Aurora held up one finger. Emma nodded.

“Bedroom it is! Let’s go!”

As she led her out of the small bathroom and Snow and Mulan made to follow, Snow got Mulan’s attention again.

“You know,” she said with a small grin, “I think they’ll tell us someday.”

The blinds were closed and the curtains drawn, and Snow read them a nice story about a princess who wanted to be a dragon, and a dragon who wanted to be a princess, while Mulan tucked both girls in, Emma with her blankie and Aurora with her old cape, and threaded her fingers through Aurora’s hair.

When both their caregivers had left, Emma opened her eyes and looked at her little best friend, who was watching her with her big blue ones. She still had the paci in her mouth, and was breathing softly.

Smiling, Emma lifted her arm and invited Aurora closer. She squeezed her shoulder lovingly when Rory threw her own arm across her chest and snuggled against Emma’s shoulder, and wrapped her legs around Emma’s right one.

“My mommy taught me a new word today,” Emma whispered so as not to alert their caregivers. “You wanna know what it is?”

Aurora nodded.

“Trauma.” She giggled when Aurora blinked. “That’s the word for what you have when you get very, very hurt. And if it still bothers you a lot, that means you’re traumatized.”

“Don’t wanna be traumatized...” Aurora mumbled as she took out the paci for a moment. Emma hugged her.

“No one does, Rory. It’s scary and not fun and no one likes that, and it comes in all shapes and sizes. It’s different for everyone, so even big adult grownups can get it too.”

Aurora nodded. “Muma.”

“Yeah, and my mommy too. Mommy says she has the exact same fears you do, about the nightm—the bad dreams about the fire room.” Seeing Aurora was about to get upset again at the mention of her bad dreams, Emma added quickly, “But my Daddy helped her and made them go away, and now she doesn’t get them anymore.”

Aurora, who was preparing to have another cry, stopped at the mention of Mr. David, and blinked curiously. She took the paci out of her mouth a little more. “How?”

“He lit a candle by her and he said it would help catch the bad dreams and make them go away.” Emma turned around and pointed at the nightlight glowing across the room. “Pretend that’s a candle.”

Aurora smiled. Emma went through such effort to make her feel better, how could she not? And she smiled even more when Emma said,

“And I’m gonna protect you today. If you have a bad dream, wake me up and I’ll help you feel better. I’ll hug you and kiss you and cuddle you and it’ll make everything okay again. A little bit. Okay?”

“Okay,” said Aurora, snuggling closer to her protector. “Thank you, Emmy.”

Emma kissed her forehead. “You know how I know it’ll help ease the trauma even just a little?”

“Your mommy told you?”

“Mm-mmh,” Emma shook her head. She looked into Aurora’s big blue eyes with her big green ones, and whispered, “Because I have trauma too. It’s just different from yours. And I didn’t have anyone to hug and comfort me and tell me it’s okay until now, where I have my mommy and my daddy and now you, Rory. And it makes me feel a lot better because I know I have people who love me and I want them to feel loved too. So I love you, Rory.” And she kissed her again. “I love you and I’m gonna help you because you deserve to feel safe and happy and loved.”

“I love you too, Emmy,” Aurora whispered. “So, so much!”

And they hugged each other tight and they kissed each other lots. And soon enough, they both fell asleep.

And Aurora didn’t have a single nightmare.

**Author's Note:**

> I miss Aurora and Mulan.


End file.
